ABA Statement on Supreme Court Decision on Use of Disparate Impact Under the Fair Housing Act

By Frank Keating, ABA president and CEO

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​“ABA and our members are strong advocates for fair lending and enforcement of the Fair Housing Act. Disparate Impact theory, however, is not the right tool to achieve fairness and prevent discrimination in lending. This approach can have unintended consequences, such as causing financial institutions to shrink their operations rather than risk litigation, hurting the very groups it is intended to help.

“We believe that fair lending is achieved by consistently adhering to the same safe and sound credit standards for making, pricing and servicing loans for all customers, eliminating the potential for unfair treatment of any individual.

“The banking industry is committed to a discrimination-free lending environment. ABA will continue to work with federal agencies to establish clear criteria about how a bank’s fair lending performance will be judged.”

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The American Bankers Association is the voice of the nation’s $15 trillion banking industry, which is composed of small, regional and large banks that together employ more than 2 million people, safeguard $11 trillion in deposits and extend more than $8 trillion in loans. Learn more at aba.com.